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Expanding mobile phone software company Lucid Products has moved into new eco-offices near Weston-super-Mare.

The company was formed six months ago to provide on-line customer support software to mobile phone companies and recently clinched an order with a major UK operator for its Virtuaphone software.

It is recruiting extra staff to handle the workload from the new order and has moved from offices in Clifton to a stone barn conversion at the Grange Office Park at Hewish, near Weston.

Farming brothers Chris and Simon Redding have turned disused cowsheds and stone barns into high-tech environmentally-friendly air-conditioned offices at their Hewish farm. The Grange Office Park comprises six sustainable office units in four buildings in the middle of the Somerset countryside, 9456sq ft (878 sq m) in total, designed to be carbon neutral in operation and with fuel bills a fraction of traditional offices of similar size.

The cowsheds are believed to be the first offices in the country constructed with large (1m x 1m x 3m) straw bales.  The super-insulation provided by the bales is teamed with environmentally-friendly computer-controlled windows and a geothermal heating and cooling system which draws heat from the surrounding fields during the winter and puts it back in the summer.

Lucid Products’ marketing director Nathan McGurl said: “Clifton is a nice place to live but a difficult place to work or park, and clients rarely visited.

“These new offices are in the countryside, yet just a couple of minutes from the M5 and people are delighted to find high-quality offices in such an idyllic and peaceful location. “

As well as the increased income from its new contract, Lucid Products is already in advanced talks with another UK operator, and plans to bring out foreign-language versions of its software to appeal to mobile phone manufacturers overseas.

Nathan McGurl said: “While we didn’t set out to find an environmentally-friendly office, the Grange Office Park approach has encouraged us and we plan to incorporate sustainable principles into our company as it grows. There is something satisfying about taking less from the environment – and putting something back instead.”

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